


Breakdown

by orphan_account, RougemageNick



Series: Just a RWBY OS full of OCs... [20]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-18
Updated: 2014-10-18
Packaged: 2018-02-20 20:34:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2442176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account, https://archiveofourown.org/users/RougemageNick/pseuds/RougemageNick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The time has finally come to bring Xellos down. Team's JNAS and SCRT are ready for the fight of their lives out on the ocean. With nowhere to go and nowhere to hide, Xellos' fall is near...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Breakdown

**Author's Note:**

> IF YOU'D LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT THE ARTWORK, SEE THE NOTES BELOW. *Ahem,* Hello everybody ^_^!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MZT1418......I had a special thing to say!!! If the ending of this chapter didn't make it quite clear, then I'll just say it...We're not even *sorta* done with this...If you like me and Nick's work, please feel free to comment...The art will be reposted soon on Tumblr, so be patient with me on that. We've got a few chapters planned between this ending and the start of the next big arc, and I hope you'll stick around for that...Of course, we do our best to keep characters evenly powered and useful, and also keep to the canon material...I'll also be doing upgrades of the weapons myself, with art, so look forward to that...Thanks for showing interest in this fan project of ours, but be sure to watch RWBY on Roosterteeth.com as it progresses...See ya later ^_^...

Breakdown:

No one spoke on the flight over to the pier. Alice was as serious as everyone else, having donned her lucky leather jacket for the mission. Mickey sat in the back of the bullhead with Team JNAS, while Team SCRT was in the bullhead flying next to them. Mickey had on her blue armor and gauntlets, and was briefing both teams on the mission, Team SCRT listening via scroll comm. She explained that the teams themselves were going to go under the freighter in submarines that will provide them with an entrance from the bottom. From there, they'd have to sweep upward through the ship on either side. Team JNAS and Team SCRT had divided the explosives among themselves by shell material. The white rubber would bounce, while the black rubber would act as an anchor wherever the bomb landed. Team SCRT would eradicate the modified grimm on board, while Team JNAS would neutralize Xellos and the rest of his crew. Alice and a squad of pilots that she'd selected to join her, along with Mickey, would destroy the guard boat surrounding the freighter. The submarine was equipped with a unique kind of sonic weapon designed to disrupt sonar and provide them the opportunity to get in without giving themselves away. Nick had his arm set to the lightning canister, and was ready to use it quickly, before they met Xellos. He had also removed his earth canister, which wouldn't work on the metal freighter. Everyone had carefully readied their weapons for this trip. Anna had her blades sharpened to a razor edge to slice clean through Xellos' armor. Jay had done the same, and had also gotten a special, more powerful and volatile dust ammunition that he hoped would do more damage to Xellos' armor. Sasha had been working out for the two days before the mission started, and had her blade sharpened after her fight with Leif. The demeanor of the aircraft was nothing but serious as everyone prepared themselves mentally for a fight with man who could outclass many hunters. All four of them would need to work together perfectly to take him down. And as Alice landed the bullhead on the docks, they all somehow knew that that's exactly what they'd do. Nick had put the poison Leif had left them in the canister where his earth dust had been, and had that canister locked until the time was right. Mickey continued explaining as the door to the back compartment opened that when Xellos and the crew as well as the Grimm had been handled, they were to contact Alice right away to get extracted. If Alice was unable to come to their rescue, they were to use whatever resources they could to find a way out on their own. She insisted this was a test of their skills as well as everything else.

"This is an important mission...Normally, we wouldn't entrust this task to first years... But at my request, Ozpin has seen it fit to put you guys in as the first round drafts. Don't disappoint..." she finished as they two teams climbed off the dock and into the submarine that would take them close. Five more bullheads were circling above them, ready to head out with Alice.

"Hey...Are you sure that you're going to be ok against the guards?" Jay asked, looking back at Mickey and Alice. Alice nodded and nudged Mickey's side,

"Don't worry about us, Jay...We'll be fine...I've got my girl with me...You guys just worry about putting Xellos in his place..." she answered. Mickey nodded her agreement. Jay considered a moment before climbing down after his allies.

"Just...Be careful...And don't die." he called as he closed the hatch behind him. The sub sunk quickly beneath the waves as Mickey and Alice quickly returned to their bullhead and took off into formation with the six total other bullheads. 

The submarine moved quickly through the water. The teams had been moved to bit of a roomy a compartment in the back, with nothing but a display monitor, and a ladder in the center of the room, that led up to a hatch. Everyone was stretching a little, trying to loosen up from the flight over and leaning against the wall. The display monitor showed their proximity to both the bullheads in formation, and Xellos' fleet. It also had a large ring, designating the sonar range of that fleet. The submarine was approaching at quite a high speed. But being propelled by a special mixture of fire and wind dust, that was to be expected. After a few minutes, the team gathered around the ladder in a circle, Team SCRT on one side and Team JNAS on the other...Everyone was silent. Even the submarine seemed to make zero noise at all, as if lending to the mood.

"So...You guys are gonna take down Xellos?" Sam asked first, breaking the silence. Team JNAS glanced between themselves. Nick nodded to him,

"Yeah...I got a special package for that asshole..." he muttered, clicking between his canisters idly, stopping for a moment on the poison canister.

"And you guys are sure you'll be able to do it?" the twins asked together. Anna nodded with Sasha at the same time by accident. Sasha glanced at Anna and nudged her side, smiling.

"We got this...Nick's going to administer the poison when the time is right...Jay's gonna determine that time, and help in directing the attacks...I'm going to crush Xellos' attacks as they come with Anna's help...And Anna's gonna disable him up front...She's the swiftest of us and has the best chance of that..." she explained quickly. Rachel chuckled a little and Sam glanced at her.

"And the rest of the crew?" he asked.

"Do we really need to worry about a hoard of red-shirts? We've got the bombs for a reason...We're going to waste them quickly...They won't be effective against Xellos, so best get rid of them quick to make sure they're not burning holes in our pockets when we face him..." Jay responded to his question. Sam chuckled with Rachel and nodded approvingly.

"And you guys? Are you sure you'll be good to handle a boat with a deadly army of modified Grimm?" Anna prodded, glancing from the twins to Sam, who nodded.

"We should be fine... They may be an army...They may act like an army...But they're Grimm. And we've got the advantage of foreknowledge." he said. Jay frowned...

"Well that's good and all, but these are Grimm who learn at a rate unparalleled. As far as I can tell, these Grimm can learn more than any other Grimm could in a year. They aren't anything to mess with...You have to be careful and move slowly..." he put in. Rachel scoffed.

"You don't need to tell us how to handle Grimm. We've been preparing for this, remember? And you're not the only one with bombs...Don't worry about us." she retorted.

"He was just making sure, Rachel...Perhaps you shouldn't be so cocky..." Sasha muttered a bit angrily. Rachel rolled her eyes at Sasha's sarcasm. They monitor showed them coming close to the edge of the sonar range and saw the mark representing them slow down. The bullheads had broken formation and the boat surrounding the freighter were starting to move around to oppose them. Everyone in the submarine felt their hearts begin to beat faster...One of the marks for the bullheads had a small A tracking it, and Jay took that to mean that that was Alice's bird. She moved in an odd pattern, the altitude listed for her ship fluctuated wildly and the mark moved in zigzags and turned in circles, two of the marks, representing an opposing boat, vanished as she did. The numbers of the boats didn't appear to be going down quickly though...

"It must be one hell of a struggle up there..." Nick muttered. Everyone nodded in general agreement, watching suddenly as more boats emerged from near the freighter.

"Wait, they have reinforcements in that ship?" the twins said in shock. The ships began spreading out more and the planes started flying at a more hurried rate, weaving more and crossing back every which way.

Suddenly the submarine shook violently and a roar ran through the metal of the compartment.

"That must be the sonic weapon..." Anna muttered. The submarine started moving quickly again and the ring that represented the sonar range of the freighter had disappeared as the mark representing the sub moved quickly in towards the ship.

"That means we're up..." Sam added. Everyone nodded as Team SCRT stepped away from the ladder. "You guys go first...You're the ones who've got to deal with...Him..." Sam nodded towards the ladder as Team JNAS stepped up to it. The mark approached the ship and suddenly the screen showed only the ship and the thermal signatures within. The spot they'd stopped at was clear of any, and it appeared that above them was a small empty room.

"Good choice..." the twins chimed. The sub shook as the hatch above them grappled itself to the bottom of the freighter. A few seconds went by and there was a sharp whistling sound until the hatch unlocked. Nick undid the hatch and pulled it down. There was a hole burned deeply into the metal of the bottom of the freighter. Nick climbed up first, and Jay gestured for the girls to follow. Sasha went up first, then Anna. Jay went up after her and they waited a second for Team SCRT. The hatch closed as a small metal circle was returned to place and welded back again with fire dust. The room shook slightly as the sub detached. Everyone looked up at eachother as Team JNAS went up to the door. Jay took the handle and they looked back at Team SCRT, who nodded at them. They nodded back before Jay pulled open the door and led them out into the interior of the ship.

* * *

 

Team SCRT watched as Team JNAS ran off deeper into the ship. They would have much less time to take out Xellos than they'd have to take out the Grimm. The twins glanced at Sam and Rachel, and nodded. Sam nodded back, but Rachel didn't make a move. They turned and ran down the hall towards the back of the freighter. They had about 6 floors of Grimm to take out, according to the scans, and each room covered almost half the ship. None of the team really looked forward to it, but the thought of the battle filled them with anticipation. They weren't sure what they'd find. They turned right down the hall in front of them, which widened out. Near the middle of the hallway, there were two doors on either side. One on the right side appeared to be just a closet, or possibly a door for ease of entrance. The door on the left, however...That one had a very complicated lock on the door. Sam chuckled and activated the Excalibur armor, which immediately snapped out over his arms, spreading out small rings around his arms and clipping to his gauntlets, boots, and shin guards, clipping the same rings around his legs. He stepped forward and jammed his gauntlets into the crack of the door and pulled apart. The suit began interacting with his aura and he easily pushed the door open. The twins walked in first. The room was completely white...But this room was enormous. It was only a single room, with large platforms on the sides of the walls, leading to stairs at the back and front of the room, leading upward to each ring of the Grimm cages. The platforms looks like they were large enough to support an Ursa Major without straining, and the stairs on either end of the room were incredible wide. At the middle of each of the shelf-like platforms was an elevator platform. The doors to the cages were locked at the moment, and the room was filled with a destructive silence, even though the Grimm in the cages were clearly shouting and crashing around. But when the team stepped into the room suddenly the Grimm stopped moving. The cages went as quiet as their environment. The twins took out their batons and readied the fire and lightning crystals. Rachel removed Megido Indiana from her belt and stretched her hand along the material of the whip, testing it's elasticity by habit. The cage doors didn't open though. The twins approached one of the cages.

"These cages normally open with proximity...Why aren't they opening now?" they said together. Sam put a hand carefully to his chin.

"Maybe there's a control panel we're missing..." he muttered. Rachel turned and looked over the wall behind them, next to the door.

"Like this one?" she said, pointing to the control panel. It looked similar to the ones at Beacon. "It looks like it syncs up to a scroll with a specific password...I wonder what the password is..." Rachel considered as the twins wandered around, looking into the cages. On the bottom floor, there were somewhat heavier Grimm, including Ursa Major and even a couple Nevermore, and manticore Grimm. Sam walked over to the panel besides Rachel and considered the issue with her. Chris and Tia were looking around the room, looking up at the higher rings of Grimm. Suddenly Chris' eyes widened as he spotted something. He nudged Tia and pointed. She glanced over where he pointed and saw it, eyes also widening. They ran back, past Sam and Rachel and up the stairs to the third floor, and ran over to the far end of the room...The Deathstalker cages. One of them had a label on it. It read the name George. Under George's name tag, it had a small slip of folded paper. Chris opened the paper and looked it over. He chuckled and passed the note to Tia. She smiled and walked over to the railing.

"Hey guys...Try FrostyStingTG...Capitalize F, S, and TG." Tia called.

"TG?" Sam called back.

"I think it stands for Teddy and George..." Chris called over his shoulder, still looking at George in his cage. George looked back at him idly, clicking his pincers in curiosity. After a minute, Chris noticed something. But before he could look closer, there was a loud clicking sound, accompanied by Sam's shouting.

"CHRIS, TIA, IT'S GO TIME..." Chris and Tia turned and both leapt easily over the railing, landing on the top of the opening cages on the bottom floor. Manticores wandered from their cage, along with two dozen beowulves, and four nevermore. Rachel ran through the crowd of emerging Grimm, heading towards the nevermores. The twins followed along as the birds spread their wings, readying to fly. The beowulves watched her move quickly, and pondered whether or not they should attack. But Samuel took their attention off of her as his blades sliced the head off one of them. All of the beowulves turned to him, registering him as their target.

"Alright kids...Come get some." he muttered as they charged him. He pushed forward off his heel and tossed one blade into the skull of another, then jammed his hand forward. The Fire crystal on his palm activated, and his hand went through the skulls of three beowulves. The remains evaporated from his hand as he grabbed his blade and leapt up over a few more, onto the cages. The beowulves started climbing up the sides of the cages, and Sam slashed two dead as they tried to pull him down. Two more came up to his sides and tried to pull him apart, but his exoskeleton held strong, and he jammed his blades up into their skulls. Another was climbing onto the cage, but Sam simply smashed it's skull under his foot. At this point, they'd learned getting close like that was not an option if they were to win, and had begun tempting Sam forward by dashing towards him and dodging, trying to put him at a disadvantage. Sam ducked their attacks and and slammed his foot against one, throwing it back into a second and turned, ducking an attack from in front of him stabbing up through it's body, then tossing it aside as he slashed through two more. One grabbed onto his shoulders and tried to lift him, but the armor began interacting with his aura again and anchored him down, letting him turn and cut down another.

"Ten more..." He muttered to himself.

Meanwhile, Rachel dashed forward and lashed out with all her might, cracking the whip easily through the skull of one of the nevermores before it took off. Chris and Tia leapt on the backs of two more and jammed their batons into the wings, activating the dust and burning one, electrocuting the other. The last one tried to attack Rachel, but she ducked and slid forward under it as she ran. When she came under the neck of the beast, her whip lashed out again, wrapping around it's neck and snapping it. She came to her feet on the other side and drew back, pulling the already evaporating body with her, then throwing forward, and tossing the body into a manticore. The beasts were young, and not much bigger than her now. All of the manticores turned their attention to Rachel...But the Twins had ran around her after jumping off the bodies of the dead nevermores. The twelve manticores moved towards her, while the twelve Ursa Major considered what to do. The twins dodged one of the manticore attacks as it ran towards them, and both hopped onto it's back, Chris Jamming his batons into the back of it's skull and zapping it to death, while Tia jumped onto the back of another and dropped down, wrapping her arms around it's neck and dragging it down with her, easily jabbing her baton into it's throat and burning through to the brain. There was a small spark as the implant was fried by the heat. At this, the other manticores roared furiously. Sam was struggling against the remaining 6 beowulves, who'd now surrounded him on top of the cages near the door. Rachel pulled one of the bombs out of her bag and tossed it into the middle of the manticores. But they all cowered and backed away from the thing. Before it went off, one of the Ursa Major ran forward and scooped it up, slamming it into his throat and swallowing it. The bomb went off, destroying the creature's body from the inside. None of the other Grimm were caught in the blast. The whole team stopped in their tracks, staring at the small scorch mark on the floor. The other Ursa major roared with the manticores, identifying Rachel and the twins as targets. All three of them immediately leapt up onto the cages, but the manticores followed, easily jumping up in front of them, while half of them ran past them and jumped onto the cages behind them. Half of the Ursa Major came over to block their way down on one side, trapping Rachel and the twins on the cages. The other Ursa were trying to help eachother climb onto the cages as well.

Suddenly, a large beeping sound rang out in the room as Samuel tossed the body of the last beowulf. He pulled out his scroll, which had synced up to the control panel. At the sound of the beeping, the Grimm immediately went still.

"One or more race of the testing Grimm have been eradicated. Activating emergency defensive protocol on all cells." a voice said through the scroll. Sam frowned.

"Emergency defensive protocol?..." he mumbled curiously. Suddenly the beeping was ringing out through the room in a very different pitch...All of the grimm in the room reacted to it, becoming furious and visibly screamed in their cages, becoming violent and standing up...As all of the doors to all of the cages suddenly slid open...

* * *

 

Jay and Nick chuckled as they rounded another corner. Jay grabbed Nick's shoulder and yanked him back before the gunfire struck Nick. Jay crossed his arms and handed Nick another one of their bouncing bombs. 

"Your turn..." he said over the gunfire. Nick held it in his hand carefully as they listened to the men around the corner argue about whether or not Jay and Nick were waiting for them. Anna and Sasha stood next to them, leaning against the wall and waiting patiently. 

"Ok...I bet...Four bodies...Aaaaand...Fifteen Lien..." he said back. He activated bomb and chucked it against the wall opposite him at an angle. It bounced off that wall, against the wall on the other side, and continued bouncing along the corridor. Nick and Jay heard the men shout for a minute before the bomb went off, and there was silence...Nick and Jay ran around the corner and up to the charred bodies, still with some of the reactive fire dust singing the bones and looked over them.

"One...Two...Haha, looks like someone's one body short..." Jay said triumphantly. Anna and Sasha rolled their eyes as they came around the corner after them. Nick sighed.

"Win some, lose some...So what's the score?" Nick asked. Jay took out his scroll and opened it.

"Looks like I'm up five Lien...Finally...Gods, three rounds of nothing but shit numbers and I'm finally back up...But you also bet a pizza two rounds back, and that was a loss...I also bet that I would buy you your next dust set from Mickey and...Well that's a thing. But hey, according to the map, we've still got several dozen hallways to cross. How many bombs are in your bag?" he asked after swallowing his annoyance at the small lead he'd gained. Nick opened the dufflebag of bounce-bombs he had over his shoulder and glanced inside.

"Plenty..." he muttered.

Jay frowned. "Same..." he said back.

"Well, we'd better get to wasting..." Nick said enthusiastically.

"You guys are drawing alot of attention to us...What if Xellos comes across us?" Anna pointed out, slightly worried. Jay smiled brightly at her.

"That's what we're hoping for, actually..." he said. Anna looked slightly surprised, and looked over at Sasha.

"But...We've still got all those bombs...I thought you said that we wanted to waste them quickly because they wouldn't be effective against him..." Sasha pointed out.

Nick nodded, "No, they won't be effective on him...But think about it this way...We're in close quarters with these corridors...Either Xellos is waiting for us to find him in an area where he's got a better chance, or he's making a mistake..." he said.

Jay nodded as well, "Yup...In these hallways, with our numbers, if we encounter him now, the only thing we can do is back up...Into parts of the ship we've already cleared out...Into turns and corridors that he would have to follow us down or otherwise wait for us to regroup an advantage. So at this point...It's a game." he continued.

"We progress, causing as much damage as we can...We can safely say he's not going to attack us. We give him our location with each blast...We destroy more of his precious freighter around each corner. So if he wanted to stop us, or engage us, he'd have done it already...Which means we get to find him." Nick finished.

Anna sighed, "You didn't tell us this sooner because..." Anna asked, letting her voice trail off. Nick and Jay glanced at eachother.

"We were having too much fun..." Jay said, smiling along with Nick. He then looked at Nick. "And now it's my turn..." he said somewhat menacingly. He turned and activated the bomb, "FIVE BODIES, 45 LIEEEEEEN!!!" he shouted as he turned and tossed the bomb at the corner of the wall, making it bounce around the corner at the far end of the corridor. The team only barely heard the sounds of the crew's footsteps around the corner when the bomb went off. Nick's jaw dropped.

"No. Fuckin'. WAY did you make that bet!!! And I'll be  **damned** if you actually. Fuckin'. GOT IT!!!" he shouted as he followed Jay around the corner, Anna and Sasha jogging after them. They came around to see Nick slamming his fist into the wall and shouting in anger. "HOW THE FUCK DID YOU EVEN DO THAT?! WHAT ARE YOU, PSYCHIC?!" he demanded in a huff. Jay was laughing loudly in triumph, crossing his arms over his chest and throwing his head back.

"Suck. On. My. FIFTY LIEN LEEEAAAAD, JACKASS!!!" he said happily as he marked it down on his scroll. Nick grumbled and smashed his foot through one of the three androids destroyed in the blast. Jay pulled out a bomb and tossing it to Nick.

"I'm. Going. To.  **Crush** you. And your damn psychicness. By the time we find Xellos, I'm gonna strip your account bare." he said, smirking. Anna and Sasha followed along, keeping back a little.

"Well it's good they're having fun..." Sasha muttered.

Anna smiled, "I think it's a bit more..." she responded. Sasha raised an eyebrow,

"Is that so? What makes you say that?" she asked. Anna shrugged, "I mean...Look at them...We're literally going to face what could be our deaths  **right now...** Will we be able to beat him if we're not confident that we can? Are we going to beat him if we're suddenly overtaken by bad thoughts when we face him? Jay's always talking about psychology and it's effects and how important it is to how we behave and perform. I think this is a good thing...Let's let them stay positive..." she explained.

Sasha lowered her eyebrows and smiled, "You actually listen to Jay when he rants about shit like that?" she asked. Another bomb went off, and the girls could hear Nick laugh and shouting he number 25 a couple of times.

Anna shrugged again, smiling a bit more, "I like when Jay goes off on rants like that...It's endearing and cute...And hey, it shows he's got passion, right?" she responded. Sasha put her arm around Anna's shoulder as they jogged to catch up with Jay and Nick. Jay was rolling his eyes,

"You got lucky...Let's just keep g-" before Jay could finish, he was interrupted when a nearly two dozen guards and androids came around the corner into the hallway and began to open fire on the team. Jay saw the paths of their shots before the shots came, and dodged away. Anna and Sasha ducked immediately...Nick took three bullets to the right arm and ribs, having raised his arm over his head. Jay had already pulled out another bomb and tossed it in their direction. Nick doubled over groaning as all the men backed around the corner to avoid the explosion. Anna drew her weapon immediately, but Jay waved his hand, motioning for her not to draw just yet. The bullets fell out of Nick's arm as he regenerated. Jay reached over and activated his aura, taking Nick's arm and slamming it against one of the walls, having it switch to the lightning canister. Nick took the hint and let loose, lightning flashing down the corridor in a controlled pattern, thanks to both Jay and Nick's aura guiding it. Several men shouted as the lightning buzzed through the androids, zapping them a little as well. Jay motioned the team to move forward. Nick did his best to shrug off the lingering pains as he ran with the rest of the team around the corner. Most of the men were doubled over in pain from the flowing electricity as they came around to finish it. Jay jumped over one of them and kicked back, knocking him towards Nick, who wrapped his arm around him and yanked free the knife on his belt, jamming it into the man's throat. Anna and Sasha ran past Nick, Sasha reaching out and crushing the throat of another man, while Anna yanked the helmet off another and slammed his head into the wall twice, cracking his skull and killing him. Jay snapped the neck of another and Nick rolled a bomb through the team's feet and they all ran back as it went off, killing the remaining men and androids. Everyone on the team chuckled.

"That was fun..." Sasha muttered. Everyone nodded their agreement. The team continued going like this for nearly twenty minutes before Jay got a call on his scroll from Alice.

"Jay...Don't have long...They keep coming...We think they have an external base where they're keeping other operatives...We're going to refuel and restock, then go after them...Continue to the objective...Get out any way you can...We'll try and get there for you...But who knows..." she said before the comm cut out. Everyone frowned at this.

"Great...So basically, we just lost our ride..." Sasha muttered.

"Nick, see if you can get ahold of Team SCRT. Give them the news..." Jay said. They continued on for a few more minutes. Nick tried several times to get ahold of team SCRT, with no luck. He decided to leave them a message so he and Jay could continue with their game. Anna and Sasha took the opportunity to bet between themselves on how many humans or androids there would be in each round, even as the supply of bombs dwindled to just a handful. Jay and Nick had begun to wonder where Xellos was, or if he was even here as they got closer to the top of the ship. At the floor just under the highest deck of the ship, the team came to a long hallway that led down a dead end. The door at the end was closed. They all walked up to the door, but no one made any bets on what they'd find in this room. Jay reached forward and opened the door...The inside of the room wasn't very large. It looked like a medium sized office room. But the room had been cleared out. And instead...Xellos sat cross-legged in the center of the room...

* * *

 

The room was chaos incarnate...The twins breathed heavily as their Semblance struggled to keep them ahead of the storm of Grimm surging around them. Sam struggled to hold his ground as they bore down upon him, slamming themselves against his body and throwing him around. He caught himself on the ground and attacked two that charged him with his blades, Dragon Wings. But these Grimm watched his every move and dodged back, slamming him to the ground with sharp claws that his aura barely defended against. Rachel's whip cracked out, smashing through one's skull, whipping around to catch the other Ursa minor, but missing. The Ursa Major continued to push against the twins with the King Taijitu, and they struggled to dodged under and over the Ursa without getting caught in the attacks of the large serpent Grimm. Sam did his best to protect Rachel so she could do the same in return. His Excalibur skeleton sucked away his aura though, and he wouldn't last much longer. Rachel's Semblance was at full power, causing the Grimm to trip or slash too high or not close enough as she slammed them back with powerful kicks, into the gold range of her Megido Indiana whip. Sam threw off another Ursa, which dodged back from Rachel's next attack as she and Sam continued to try and cover eachother. Sam leapt back and grabbed Rachel by the waist, leaping up onto the second floor, Rachel covering their landing from a gryffon that watched them come up. They landed and Rachel continued to lash out, as Sam turned and covered her back, grappling with a boarbatusk. He tossed it back onto several others, who backed up slightly and all took a position simply watching him.

"This...Is going...Nowhere...Fast..." Sam struggled to speak through his heavy breathing. The twins had brought down the last of the Ursa major and were now tossing the bombs left and right, but the Grimm were obviously trained to avoid explosives, as they avoided the small rubber spheres like a plague. The Taijitu had wrapped itself around the railing of the floor they were on, and now had begun attacking the twins from both sides, with both heads. Rachel was only just beginning to feel the exhaustion herself after using her aura too much. Sam had been protecting her with everything he had, and wouldn't last long if she didn't do something. She activated the dust crystal in the base of her whip's handle and lashed out with all of it's power, completely destroying the railing and ground in front of her, making some of the Grimm fall. She then turned and swung her whip around Sam, killing two of the boarbatusks, and making the others back off a little. She came around to Sam and put her arm around him.

"Sam...Take some of my aura..." she ordered.

Sam shook his head, "Can't...Right now...You're a much more useful fighter than I am...You'll need all you can get..." he wheezed. She lashed out again with her whip, but with the dust crystal depleted, it only cracked against the skull without damaging it. The boarbatusks began to advance again, and the gryffons were now trying to find a way to get at their backs.

"We need our leader...Come on, just do it...I can't hold them off for long, and you know it...Just take some...Half... Anything, just get yourself back in this..." she demanded. Sam gritted his teeth and put one hand against Rachel's stomach, activating his Semblance. Her aura flowed over his hand, integrating into his own. He immediately felt a huge difference as his strength began to return. He decided to reduce his aura use and dropped the protective use in favor of using his Excalibur to provide strength and attack power. Rachel felt some of her strength fade, but held on with what she could. Sam released her aura and breathed deeply, stepping forward with renewed power.

"Replace your dust crystal...I'll cover you..." he said, no longer stuttering or breathing heavily. Rachel nodded and opened the bottom of the handle, which she'd modified after one of her matches with Sasha to drop the crystal out from the bottom. The crystal fell out and she quickly reached for a new one. She pulled it out, but almost dropped the earth crystal when a gryffon suddenly tried to attack her over the railing. It was slightly younger and not that big though. Suddenly, one of Sam's blades flew into it's skull, killing it. Sam dashed over and grabbed his blade before it fell from the railing with the evaporating body of the gryffon. Rachel looked up at him and then over to the boarbatusks...Whose bodies were evaporating at that moment, every one slain...Rachel's mouth fell open at the sight of it. "Let's go...We've got alot to kill, and little aura to do it with..." he muttered. Rachel nodded and replaced the crystal, clicking the handle closed and moving to the elevator to go to the next floor with Sam.

On the other side, the twins had killed one of the heads of the King Taijitu and had now taken up different stances, back to back. Chris was trying to fight off the remaining head of the snake, while Tia was covering his back, both keeping an eye on their sibling with their Semblance. Tia struggled to put down the two legged rex-like Grimm as they charged her, trying to use their powerful jaws to snap her arms. More Grimm were dropping from the higher floors and finding their way up to the floor they were on, attacking in waves. Chris cracked his batons through fangs of the snake, which reared back for a moment as Chris took the opportunity to jam his batons into it's neck, using the crystals to zap the Grimm to death. He then turned away and grabbed Tia's arm, pulling her back with him, closer to the far wall to protect their back and give more focus to the waves before them. Tia pulled out more bombs, as did Chris, both sheathing their batons for the attacks. The rolled the bombs forward, but instead, the Grimm simply charged forward to them, while the Grimm behind them grabbed the bombs in their mouths to protect the others.

"This doesn't make sense...The different species didn't work together like this last time...What's going on here!!!" Tia yelled, cracking the neck of a Grimm that charged them while Chris held it still.

"That was what...Nearly a month ago? They must have figured out how to make them play nice together..." Chris responded.

Tia groaned, "So we can't count on them attacking eachother...Which means it's an army of them against the four of us...How long are we gonna last against them?" she asked, swinging fireballs at the Grimm in front of them, trying to keep them back.

Chris shook his head, beginning to breath heavier, "Can't say..." he mumbled in response. The Grimm backed the twins farther into the corner as they advanced on them. Tia glanced over and saw Sam and Rachel on the third floor, fighting with everything they had.

She gritted her teeth, "Come on Chris...We have to put them down...Let's not let our teammates put us to shame..." she said. She grabbed her twin's shoulder and tossed him over the railing onto the cages of the first floor, then quickly jumped after him. Chris landed on his feet and Tia landed after him. The Grimm jumped after them as the Grimm from the higher floors followed...But that's when both of them noticed something. Tia and Chris glanced at eachother.

"Sam!!! Rachel!!! Get down here!!!" they shouted together. They turned and began fending off the Grimm climbing towards them, but suddenly, Sam landed hard on one of the Grimm, crushing it and swinging his swords through two more, then jumping back to the twins. Rachel followed quickly, cracking the metal of the cages behind them with her whip and killing one of the Grim, landing there. She moved forward next to Sam, behind the twins.

"We're here..." Sam muttered.

Chris turned to them, "Look up there..." he said, pointing up to the third floor. Rachel and Sam followed his pointing to the third floor. Their eyes widened as they saw what the twins were pointing them to...The Deathstalkers hadn't left their cages...Not a single one of them moved. They sat still, watching the other Grimm moving around them.

"......We need to get up there......Now..." Sam called above the din. The twins struggled to hold off the Grimm marching towards them, pushing forward into the front lines of their march and actively trying to bring them down. But the Grimm were smart, and the twins' Semblance barely kept them ahead of the tandem counter attacks of interspecies Grimm. Sam reached forward and grabbed both twins by the shoulders, then turned and jumped onto the elevator that Rachel had already gotten to and was programming to go to the third floor. The Grimm followed, but Rachel's whip was lashing out with more speed than ever, her hand and head filled with hope at the thought of a Grimm that wasn't attacking them. The elevator began to move and a small railing came up around the platform as it flew upwards. It reached the third floor in two seconds flat, and the team ran towards the Deathstalkers cages. Tia and Chris stopped them all however as they ran by the George's cage. The Grimm had begun to try and follow them however. Sam and Rachel nodded towards Chris and Tia as Chris stepped forward to grab the folded slip of paper that was taped to George's skull. He opened it and read aloud as Sam and Rachel began to fight off Grimm coming over the railing.

"My name is George, ask me nicely, and I can lead you to victory..." he read. He and Tia shared a glance and turned to George. They both cleared their throats...

"George...Please lead us to victory!!" they said together. George's pincers clicked wildly, as if triggered by the words. He screeched in a high pitch that rang out above the din. The twins leapt aside as he marched from his cage. Sam and Rachel jumped over him to join the twins as he and the other two dozen Deathstalkers marched forward...And began slaughtering the other Grimm. Team SCRT laughed and smiled together, looking back and forth between eachother, watching with renewed hope as George and his fellow giants smashed, stabbed, and bit through Grimm after Grimm, easily leaping off the third floor and crushing more of them, while half of them marched to the elevator and waited. The team glanced at eachother and went over next to them, activating the elevator and moving up to the next floor for them, and watched as they marched off to slaughter more. The team sat down casually, resting a minute and catching their breath while they restocked their weapons.

"What the hell just happened..." Sam asked idly.

The twins chuckled, "You remember what Jay and Anna told us about their fight with Iskelle...She had an Ursa Major fight with her...She called it Teddy...It was her pet...George was Leif's, we suspect..." Chris began.

"And you remember what Nick and Sasha said...Leif didn't have George with him...But in his letter, he said he wanted Xellos brought down...We suspect he set this up...Gave us an advantage to defeat these demons..." Tia continued.

"He probably trained George to respond to that phrase or something like it...These Grimm are intelligent, aren't they? What better way to help us bring them down than giving us an ally who understand our opponent's completely..." Chris finished.

Rachel shook her head in astonishment, "Damn...Clever bastard..." she muttered.

"Makes you wonder who's side they were on the entire time..." Sam muttered. The team stood, readying themselves to help George and the rest of their new allies. "Either way...We have a lead now. Let's drive this home..." he said. They all nodded to eachother and charged forward to the front lines with the Deathstalkers to back them, to end the fight with all haste. The twins decided together that at the end of this fight, they'd make sure to get all of their Deathstalker allies off of this freighter safely...As they deserved.

* * *

 

Xellos made no move to stand, nor did any of the team make any move to enter the room. Xellos opened his eyes and looked over the team.

"So you've come all this way..." he muttered simply. Everyone moved through the open doorway and stood before Xellos, who still didn't move. The team took up positions in the four corners of the room, but Xellos didn't try to stop them. His cloak swished slightly as his tail moved. He stood slowly, with deliberate movements, as if inviting someone to be the first to attack...No takers. He turned to Jay, who stood in the corner to the right of the door. "I see your shadow no longer troubles you..." he said simply.

Jay's eyes narrowed, "How do you know so much about us..." he demanded angrily.

Xellos removed the hood from his cloak, "Because I know humans. You're very easy to read...The way you stand...The way you walk...Your weapons...Your aura...It all says everything anyone would ever need to know. That's how." he responded. "Out of my sense of honor, I'm obligated to give you an opportunity to surrender now..." Xellos continued.

Nick chuckled, "Us? Surrender? We're the ones who have you surrounded...And this time...You're not going to bring us down." he growled back.

Xellos gritted his teeth and turned to Nick, in the opposite corner of Jay, "You have no idea what you're doing here!! You need to do get out of this now...Leave...While you still can. Leave this place, leave Beacon, leave Vale..." he ordered.

Sasha took a step towards Xellos, "Are you threatening us?" she demanded. Xellos tried to calm himself down, but it clearly wasn't working.

"No...It's too late for threats..." he said as he removed his cloak and let it drop to the floor. The diamond formed over his body and tail, covering it in layer upon layer of powerful diamond. The air around him was filled with shadows, and as he raised his arms, the scimitars formed in his hands. Sasha quickly removed her sword and stepped forward towards him, from the corner on the other side of the door. Anna, in the opposite corner, removed her axe from her back. Sasha swung for Xellos, who raised one of his scimitars to block. The blade slammed together, but Sasha quickly pulled the trigger, using the momentum to swing around him, slamming the blade into his back, throwing him forward through the door. Jay and Nick both pulled out two of the last remaining bombs. Jay tossed his first, then Nick after seeing where Jay tossed his. Xellos' shadows lashed out and sliced both bombs in two, both exploding immediately. Sasha and Anna were already dashing towards him again through the smoke from the blasts. Xellos stood and quickly turned to counter Sasha, both blades easily swimming through the metal on either side of the somewhat narrow hallway. Sasha stopped short and raised her blade up before her, blocking both strikes. Anna ran over the walls and jumped behind Xellos, swinging towards him. Xellos' shadow hardened to protect him, but Anna's axe cut right through this time, and Xellos leaned forward to avoid the cut, pushing against Sasha's blade and throwing her back. But two of the bombs flew over Sasha as she stumbled.

The bombs went off, blasting a hole in the hallway as Xellos raised a shield to defend himself. Anna came at his back, having switched to longsword form. Xellos quickly jumped to the side through the hole, into the hallway next to him. Anna raised her sword defensively before her, but at an odd angle that made Xellos hesitate in question. Suddenly the bomb bounced off the blade and towards him. He barely had the time to raise a shield that time when it exploded. Sasha used all her might to jam her sword through the shield, almost catching Xellos. But the shield formed spikes that flew out viciously. They slammed against the opposite wall of the hallway before the illusion of Sasha's blade vanished. Suddenly, there was a blast in the hallway to Xellos' right, and he jumped back to avoid a bomb bouncing towards him. He bounced it up towards the ceiling where it went off, destroying a part of the floor of the deck, and exposing the sky. Xellos tried to jump towards the light, but Anna's blade flashed before him as she entered his path. His anger overtook him and the shadows flared again, cutting apart the walls of the hallway in an attempt to catch team JNAS in the attack. But Anna's illusion vanished again as Nick ran forward, reaching for his head. His body had slashes through the armor where his attack had hit, but it was already healing. Nick switched to the fire canister though, not the poison canister. Xellos' shadow wrapped around Nick's body and tossed him out onto the top deck. When he looked down though, the only thing he saw was Sasha's blade as it slammed against his own blades, and she turned, tossing him back through the hole and against the wall of the hallway opposite office room. The bomb Jay had tossed towards him exploded as he jumped to the side. The blast exposed a hole in the side of the ship.

Jay walked casually towards him, Anna walking next to him. Sasha waited for Nick to jump back down into the hallway. Sasha and Anna ran ahead with Nick catching up to Jay as they went around. Xellos watched carefully, letting his scimitars vanish in favor of the raw shadows. Jay walked around the corner and watched carefully as Sasha blocked attack after attack, with Anna moving around her to strike at Xellos, who defended with great skill. They were barely pushing him back step by step. Jay's aura activated, interacting with the wind crystal pendant he held in his left hand, allowing him to speak clearly to his teammates with barely a whisper. But Xellos had already begun deciphering Anna's illusions. He deflected one of Anna's attacks and slammed his palm into Sasha's chest as she moved to block. Jay nodded to Nick, "Let's get in there..." he muttered. He drew his tonfas and Nick, his sword. Jay slipped the wind pendant into his pocket and moved forward as Xellos began to push Anna back as well. Nick activated his wind dust canister and raised his palm, blasting a vortex in Xellos' direction. Xellos' shadows formed the bars of a railgun as Anna jumped back over Jay, who was trying to get close enough before he fired. He clipped the bayonets to his tonfas and remember Mickey's motion that day...He crossed his arms over his chest before the missile dropped, and threw them out, anticipating the time difference between his motion, and the speed of the shot. The blast was sliced clean in two. One half of the missile destroyed a large portion of the ship's hull to Jay's left, the other crashed through the wall and stopped when it hit something. There was a small boom and the freighter shook a little. Steam poured out of the opening where the shot went through the wall. Xellos gritted his teeth as Jay stepped forward, marching towards him.

"You're holding back...What's wrong? Not enough room to fight with your full power?" he yelled as he raised his tonfas and fired at Xellos. Xellos raised his hands and fortified the shield layer, blocking Jay's shots. Jay jumped up slightly as suddenly wind burst forth over the walls of the hallway. The surge of wind ran over the ceiling, floor, and walls, slamming into Xellos and tossing him back against the far wall of the hallway. Jay dashed towards him, picking apart the shadows that tried to stop him, and easily slashing through them. Xellos put his arms in front of him, but Jay's tonfas slammed into his sides, throwing him down another hallway. The freighter shook more with a crashing sound. There was a splash outside the freighter, which Anna leaned out to look at. It looked like a large Grimm had been thrown through the side of the ship, and it's dead body was evaporating on the waves. Xellos glanced around nervously at the sound of the crashes.

"Allies...Oh, how could I forget...Those twins, the girl with the whip, and the kid with the exo-skeleton...You brought them with you..." he said as the team came around the corner to face him. There was a hallway to his right, but he didn't bother fleeing that way, instead, the shadows slashed through the door behind him, revealing stairs onto the deck. Nick switched to the wind canister again as Jay pulled out another bomb and tossed it towards Xellos. Nick raised his arm and fired at the bomb as Xellos took the bait, shadows lashing out and slicing the bomb apart. The bomb exploded, and Nick's wind blast struck the blast, protecting the team from the fire. All of them ran forward and pursued Xellos, who'd jumped out onto the deck to avoid the blast. Xellos was turning around, scanning the waters for any of the defense boats that had surrounded the ship. When he found none, he turned back to the team, who'd begun to fan out again. "Please...You have to listen to me!!! You're making a mistake!!!" he shouted to them.

Sasha smirked, "Are you begging? Come on Xellos, if you're going to do that, do it properly..." she said angrily, raising her sword and crouching, "ON YOUR KNEES!!!" she shouted, dashing towards him. Anna ran forward to cover her, and Jay nodded to Nick, who readied to cover them along with Jay. Xellos dodged back from Sasha's attack, then quickly ducked under Anna's and kicked back towards her. But his attack was cut short when he had to backflip from Sasha's downward slash. He turned to block Jay's attacks as they came, but was suddenly tripped by a slash thrown from Nick's blade, which was covered in wind dust. He landed on his back and rolled out of the path of Sasha's attack, into Anna's. But the illusion vanished as he blocked, and Anna's real attack followed a different path as Anna listened to Jay's instructions, given through the wind pendant. The attack sliced through the weak point of his defenses and slashed through the armor on both of Xellos' arms as he jumped back, his aura barely protecting him from losing both arms. Jay came at his back though, Sasha coming up on his side. Jay stabbed towards the weakest point he could see, but Xellos deflected Jay's attacks with both hands. Jay smirked as he fired a shot from both tonfas, cracking Xellos' armor and jolting his hands forward. Sasha swung hard before he could recover...Her sword slammed into his stomach with all her strength behind it. The armor cracked and chipped off in the face of Sasha's strength as she drove the slash through, throwing him clear into the air. The weight of his armor barely saved him from being tossed clean off the freighter. He landed hard on his back, breathing heavily. He turned over onto his stomach, climbing onto his knees and turning away from the team. Sasha smirked as they all walked towards him. The freighter shook again and began to move, turning in the water, towards Vale's pier.

"Team SCRT must have finished the Grimm...I doubt we'd be moving back towards Vale if they weren't causing it...They must have gotten your message..." Anna stated. She turned back towards Xellos as Sasha walked quickly towards him. Xellos tried to recover his breath as he turned towards the team, barely able to come up to his knees.

"That's better..." Sasha growled, marching up to him and lowering the point of her blade, pointing the gun at Xellos' head. "Now...Beg. For. Your. Life..." she demanded. Xellos looked down the barrel of her gun and then back down at his stomach, where her attack had pierced his skin, which was now bleeding. He used his aura to cover up the wound, and looked back up at Sasha.

"S-stop this...While you still can...You have no idea what you're doing here...No idea what's going on...This is...Your last chance...You have to get...Off of this freighter...Out of Vale...Before...It's too late..." he gasped through his heavy breathing. Jay frowned as they all moved closer to him.

"Why? What  **is** going on? Enlighten us..." Jay insisted. Xellos gritted his teeth and looked away for a minute before shaking his head. Jay's eyes narrowed. Something seemed off here. The freighter shook again as it moved through the waves in Vale's direction. Xellos groaned and the armor on his body shook. Jay's eyes widened as he saw Xellos' aura flare up. "WATCH OUT!!" he yelled to Sasha. Nick jumped forward and wrapped himself around her, turning her away from Xellos as the shadows stabbed out towards the four of them. The shadows stabbed through Nick's stomach and he gasped, breathed dashed from his lungs. Anna ducked away from the attack and Jay rolled to the side, retrieving his weapons. Sasha swung her blade behind Nick's back, severing the spire that had stabbed through him, and easily scooped him up in her arms, dashing away from Xellos with him. She put him down gently and looked over his wound. Nick breathed heavily as his aura was sucked away with his Semblance, healing the wound. Sasha sighed with relief and looked back towards Xellos, who had struggled back to his feet. The shadows around him appeared more vicious as Jay and Anna moved to subdue him. Xellos' aura released the electrons on the carbon and lightning began to crackle through the air. It gathered over his armor as the spires surged outward again, lashing out at Jay and Anna with renewed speed and force. Jay watched carefully the paths of both the spires and the lightning, dodging deftly around the attacks and activating his aura against the flashing electricity. Anna carefully used her aura to protect her arms, using only them and her axe to defend against both the lightning and the diamond spikes. Her axe flashed in circles around her arms, slicing through the spikes or deflecting them with perfect precision as she stepped closer and closer. Jay glanced over to her and nodded. She nodded back and swung down against one of his attacks, knocking it into the ground and boosting herself into the air. Xellos gather the electricity and quickly let it surge down his arm, blasting a piece of the carbon that was about the size of a marble towards Anna at the speed of a railgun...But Anna's illusion vanished once more, and when he looked down, the real Anna was already upon him. Her axe swung through every spire that jutted out from his armor. He raised his arms to block, and the blow trimmed the armor from his arms, coming within a paper's width of his skin. The upwards swing knocked his arms up, and he saw Jay run forward, taking the opportunity, and stabbing the bayonet endings right through the tissue paper thin diamond over his arms.

The blades went all the way through Xellos' arms, and he screamed in pain. Anna turned slammed the staff of her poleaxe into the back of Xellos' knees, driving him down before Jay again. Jay put his left foot back and braced himself, rearing back, then slamming his head down against Xellos'...Xellos' spires immediately turned to dust in the air as Xellos' head was completely overtaken with a dazed throbbing that pushed all thought from his mind. Jay stumbled back, pulling out his tonfas and dropping them, falling onto his back. At that moment, Sasha threw Nick forward...He was healed from his earlier wound, and had switched to the poison canister. He reached forward and tackled Xellos to the ground, jamming his hand against Xellos' throat and unleashing the poison, which seeped through Xellos' neck. Immediately the poison took effect, and the carbon armor covering Xellos' body turned to dust and scattered from him. Nick stood up and dropped Xellos as he went limp in his hand, while Anna went to go see if Jay was ok. Jay mumbled something incoherently about an explosive lance and Anna breathed easier. Nick bent down to see if Xellos was still alive.

"They'll want to interrogate him..." Sasha stated as she walked over. Jay began to sing something about Grimm in an old poetic tune, and Anna's worry returned a little. "Relax...He hit his head real hard...Give him some time to come to...Why don't you and I go find team SCRT...They're not going the right direction for heading back to the pier...We should ask them what's up. Like I said, he just needs some time to come out of that..." she reassured Anna. Anna sighed and stood, going off with Sasha to check on SCRT.  Nick, still a little nervous about Xellos, dragged him over next to Jay and intentionally sat down on his back, watching Jay to make sure he was ok.

"Alright man, just rest a bit..." he muttered as Jay went silent, only snoring slightly. Anna and Sasha returned in a few minutes with Tia and Chris in tow, who said that they we're going back to Vale just yet. Instead, they intended to head to the shoreline way to the west, where they'd free the Deathstalkers into the wild. Nick demanded why they'd do that ever, and they explained that it was only fair to George and the rest, seeing as it was thanks to them, and in part Leif, that they'd managed to exterminate the other Grimm. They suspected that Leif had trained George to command the rest, and had taught them not to attack humans, but instead attack other Grimm. And that's why they wanted to release them. Nick sighed and submitted to this course as the ship continued on it's course for nearly an hour until they got near the shore. Sam and Rachel, down below deck, where with the unused bombs, the formed a giant hole in the side of the ship, right above the path of ice. The jolt of the blast woke Jay up, who stuttered for a minute before sitting up and walking over with the rest of the teams, who were watching over the edge of the ship. The boat came to a stop, and after a few minutes, Sam and Rachel appeared, both pulling large carts with crates of ice dust on them. They began tossing the ice dust into the water and  setting them off, each time tossing them farther, with Sasha's help. The ice dust formed a large bridge of ice to the shore line.

Nick, Anna, Sasha, Jay, and the twins watched as Deathstalker after Deathstalker poured from the hole, crossing the bridge of ice with haste. All of them looked on in astonishment as they ran through the sand and disappeared into the treeline beyond. Jay sat down, still a little dazed from his headbut, while Nick joked and laughed about it. Anna chuckled along with him, but tried to reassure Jay that she wasn't laughing with him.

"I mean...It  **was** pretty funny though..." she chuckled. Jay laughed a little and nodded, rubbing his forehead and laughing a bit more.

"I still...Can't believe you did that...I mean really, it worked...And it was quite impressive...But oh my fuckin' gods...For a genius like you, that was an incredibly  **stupid**  move..." Sasha laughed as well, going and sitting on Xellos' back next to Nick. Jay rolled his eyes, still laughing. Anna stepped closer to him and leaned in, kissing him on the cheek and standing up. Jay's face turned slightly red and he grabbed her hand, pulling her down next to him and putting an arm around her, kissing her on the cheek in return. When team SCRT came over and asked what was so funny, team JNAS took turns detailing the bits of their fight. The twins doubled over in laughter when they told them about Jay's headbut. They continued to share stories for another hour until three bullheads flew towards the ship, having locked to their scrolls' coordinates. When the three landed, out of one filed a dozen or so police officials, who surrounded the teams and Xellos, pointing guns at them and demanding that everyone step away from Xellos. Mickey, who was just climbing out of Alice's bullhead, shouted at them to "not get their panties in a bunch" and let the kids move. They took Xellos into their bullhead, which wasted no time in taking off again and flying back to Vale. Mickey and Alice, along with the pilot of the second bullhead, called the teams onto each of the separate bullheads. They trip to Vale seemed somehow much shorter, filled with laughing and recalling again the fights and events leading to Xellos' defeat. When they returned to Beacon, Mickey waved all the kids to their dorms.

"I'll take care of debriefing and reporting...You kids are tired...You should get to bed...You'll have an early start tomorrow, last day of the semester. You guys have classes and shit...But hey. When that's over, you'll have plenty of time to rest up and calm down from all this, ok?" Mickey assured. Everyone drowsily nodded and stumbled to bed, not really caring even to ready themselves, and just crashing. Nick managed to climb up to his hammock, but Anna felt far too out, and just collapsed next to Jay. Sasha barely made it to her bed before falling asleep herself...Everyone slept more soundly than they had since they'd come to Beacon, that night...

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> ATTENTION. FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO SEE THE ARTWORK, UNFORTUNATELY, AT THE REQUEST OF OUR ARTIST, IT HAS BEEN REMOVED FOR THE TIME BEING. I WILL LET YOU KNOW IF/WHEN WE ARE ABLE TO REPOST THE ART. I APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE.


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